Dyachenko’s story offers many situations where Egert is humiliated and heaps shame on him with relish. But Egert Soll was driven by the curse and had no choices except one time he uttered “no” instead of “yes”. This is not a moral dilemma where his free will decides his fate. Continue reading →

I found the central character to be Cally who struggles to find meaning in the advice, myths, strange gestures, broken dreams of her parents-stepfather-cousin-grandmas-ancestors. The details Erdrich presents of their disassociated lives are unsparing and often funny. Continue reading →

The struggle in the final act means the watcher and apprentice fight on the side of the current royal family for whom only three scenes were spared, and vanquish a long-simmering blood feud for which only two scenes were constructed. Continue reading →